Ginseng King Trading

I always come here with my mom to buy herbs. The employees here mostly speak Mandarin, but I know the cashier can speak Cantonese. The cashier is a good marketer and my mom always buys more than she plans to. Personally, I don’t know much about herbs and my mom knows a bit more than I do, but my mom often needs to ask about each herb to know how to use it.
There is a traditional Chinese medicine doctor («zung1 ji1» in Cantonese) in the back who can diagnose problems based on feeling the pulse of my mom’s wrist. I am a bit suspicious of this type of healthcare, but since my mom has been to many western style regular doctors, she’s willing to try anything at this point. The doctor recommended some herbs for my mom and told her that they make this herbal soup/​drink in-​house. I saw the machine that they use to make it and the first thing that flashed in my mind is hygiene. They use and reuse the same wooden basin over and over again to collect the herbal soup and it’s all out in the open on the floor near the doorway. I don’t think they even clean the machine to make it. The back was also a tiny storage area so I think of dust, insects, roaches and the like though I did not see any while I was there. After the herbal liquid is pumped out of the machine, it goes into plastic bags which are then sealed with another machine. Then, they slap their logo sticker on it. I saw how it all works. They try to sell it to my mom for about $ 10 cheaper than if she were to buy the herbs herself and make it. They say it only takes about 45 minutes to make nine or whatever amount of bags for her to take home and how convenient it is to drink it out of a pouch, which reminds me of «Capri Sun» pouch drinks. Anyway, my mom declined to my relief.
The doctor dumped herbs from all different shelves into two brown paper bags, tie it up, and ask my mom to take the medicine twice a day, morning and night. I remember this is almost $ 100 worth.
Other than that, this store has a lot of different herbs, packaged goods, health snacks, and a little bit of foreign goods such as Korean seaweed packages. Other than that, I’m clueless as to what everything is.
By the way, if you’re interesting in knowing whether my mom felt any better making her own pot of herbs, she said it made her feel nauseus in the initial phase of taking the medicine, but after a couple doses (day and night), she thought it was OK. It didn’t make her feel that much better. I guess it was effective, but not super effective. She isn’t too sure. The pain is still haunting her.
PROS: Chinese medicine doctor available, herbs
CONS: questionable in-​house methods of making their own brand.